Dispensing-refrigerator.



H. H. HARRIS. DISPENSING REFRIGERATOR.

APPLICATION F|LED'AUG.27. I911 1,300,608, Patented Apr. 15, 1919.

4 SHEETS-SHEET l- INVENTOR i f -V77my flIEVIi-S) ATTORNEY I H. H.HARRIS.- msPemsms REFRIGERATOR. APPLICATION FILED AUG-21. I911.

l 300,608,, Patented Apr. 15, 1919.

4 SHEETSSHEET 2.

I /4 F v W I l 2 4 20 INVENTOFI WITNESSES ATTO R N EY H. H. HARRIS.DISPENSING REFRIGERATOR.

APPLICATION FILED AUG-27. l9l7- 1,390,608, Patented Apr. 15,1919.-

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

INVENTOR WITNESSES 6 ATTORNEY H. H. HARRIS.. DISPENSING REFRIGERATOR.APPLICAHON FILED AUG-ZhJQIL 1,300,608; Patented Apr. 145, 1919.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

WITNESSES v v l:WENTOR J en 1y ZEWZS;

ATTORNEY UNITED STATES PATENT enrich.

HENRY H. HARRIS, OF PERU, INDIANA.

msrnnsme-anrmennaron.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY HLHARRIS, a citizen of the United States,residing at Peru, in the county of Miami and State of Indiana, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements inDispensing-Refrigerators, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a combined coincontrolled delivery cabinet andrefrigerator, and more particularly to an apparatus of this type fordispensing bottled goods.

The main object of the invention is to provide a simply constructed andefficient apparatus of this character for cooling and vending softdrinks, such as coca cola, pop, and the like, which will produce amaximum cooling effect with a minimum consumption of ice and which afterbeing filled will require very little attention, collectingautomatically for every bottle delivered.

Another object is to provide an apparatus of this character, the icechamber of which is so constructed that after it is filled with ice, itis completely sealed against the entrance of air and consequently themelting of the ice is reduced to a minimum.

Another object is to so construct a cooler or refrigerator chamber inwhich a plurality of ice water containing compartments are provided forgoods to be cooled and the ice chamber of which is constructed to permitthe water to overflow to the compartment below when it reaches apredetermined height.

limiting the backward turning of the coin disk to permit it to be turnedonly far enough to allow a coin to drop into the slot.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, which will appear as thedescription proceeds, the invention resides in the combination andarrangement of parts and'1n the details of construction hereinafterdescribed and claimed, it being understood that changes in the preciseembodiment of the invention herein disclosed may be made within thescope of what is claimed without departing from the spirit of theinvention.

In the accompanying drawings:-

Figure 1 represents a perspective view Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 15, 1919.

Application filed August 27, 1917. Serial No. 188,411.

taken from the front of an apparatus constructed in accordance with thisinvention,

Fig. 2 is a central vertical section taken on the line 22 of Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail vertical section taken on the line 3-3 ofFig. 4, v

Fig. 4 is a horizontal section taken on the line 44 of Fig. 2, and

Fig. 5 is a detail perspective view of the coin disk and a portion ofthe chute with I the means for locking the disk against turn- In theembodiment illustrated, a doublewalled cabinet 1 is shown, the outercasing 2 of which is octagonal in cross section, although it may be ofany other desired cross sectional configuration. The inner shell or wall3 of this cabinet which is spaced from casing 2 is shown circular incross section The octagonal form of the outer casing pro vides for themounting thereon of a plurality of mirrors 4: which render the cabinetmore attractive. This configuration of the casing, also provides for theconvenient mounting of the gear chambers 5 and (S thereon-and whichvcontain mechanism for actuating the delivery apparatus as will bepresently described.

An ice chamber 7 is arranged centrally within the cabinet, beingconstructed of a cylinder 8 extending from the top to the bottom of thecabinet and spaced a suitable distance from shell 3 to provide amplespace between them for the goods to be cooled and vended. This cylinder8 is provided with a plurality of peripheral longitudinally extendingslots 9 at its lower end and with a similar series 9 formed therein at apoint intermediate the ends of said cylinder for a purpose presently tobe described.

The refrigerating chamber which is formed between cylinder 8 and shell 3is di- -vided by horizontal partitions 10 and 11 partment 13 as'is shownclearly in Figs. 2 and 3. Rising upwardly from the inner edge of thisannular partition 15 is a flange 16 which is of a height correspondingto the tition 11 which forms the bottom of com- I mit access to thechamber 7 length of the slots 9 which extend from the partition 15upwardly. These slots 9 afford communication between the ice chamber 7and the compartment 13 and this compartment is designed to contain waterup to a level indicated by the top, of the flange 16, it beingunderstood that when the water rises to this point it will overflow fromsaid cylinder and pass to the bottom of the chamber 7 into thecompartment 14 below. The slots 9 in the lower end of the cylinder 8communicate with the compartment 14 which is also designed to containwater which circulates around the ice contained in the chamber 7 andaround the goods to be cooled which are contained in the compartment 14thereby effectually cooling said, goods. After the water in thischamber" reaches a predetermined height it will flow out through a pipe17 and be conducted to any suitable place of deposit therethrough.

The upper end of the cylinder 8 is closed by a tight fitting cover 18 asis shown clearly in Fig. 2 and which is hinged to the cabinet as shownin Fig. 1, being designed to perfor filling it with ice. It will thus beseen that after ice has been placed in this chamber 7 and the top 18closed, water having been supplied to the compartments 13 and 14 willcompletely seal the chamberagainst any entrance of air thereinto andthus prevent melting of the ice which will reduce its consumption to aminimum and yet provide a cooling effect on the goods contained in therefrigerator compartments 13 and 14.

Mounted on the partition 11 and on the bottom of the casing are tracksupports as 19, which are designed for supporting annular tracks 24,25., 26 and 27, the purpose of which will be presently described.

The track supports 19, any suitable number of which may be employed,which are shown clearly in Fig. 3, are double 'U-shaped, the outer arms20 of which have outturned lateral flanges 21 while a cross bar or plate22 connects the inner arms 23 of said members, and these flanges and barform the tracks 24, 25, 26 and 27.

These supports 19 and the tracks carried thereby are arranged betweenthe ice chamber 8 and the shell 3 in both compartments 13 and 14.

Mounted to travel on the two pairs of tracks in each compartment are twobottle carriers 28 and 29, the carriers in both compartments beingexactly alike, hence one pair only will be described in detail. Thesecarriers each is equipped with an outer crown gear 30 having an annularpocket supporting flange 31 around its inner edge and a similar flange32 spaced inwardly therefrom on which and flange 31, bottle carryingpockets 46 are designed to rest and to travel therewlth as will bepresently described. Each .43. These gears 43 each carrier has rollers33 depending therefrom which travel on their supporting tracks tofacilitate their movement and reduce friction.

Operating gears for the carriers are housed in the chambers. 5 and 6 onthe outer face of the cabinet 1 as is shown clearly in Figs. 1, 3 and 4.

Meshing with each outer crown gear 30 is a gear wheel 34 and with theinner crown gear 30 is a gear wheel 35. These gear wheels are carried byshafts 36 and 37, respectively, the shaft 36 being journaled in thewalls of the casing 2 as is shown clearly in Fig. 3. The shaft 37extends across the compartment 14 and has one end journaled in a bearing38 carried by the outer face of the cylinder 8. The other end of thisshaft 37 extends through the walls of the casing 2 into a gear chambermounted thereon. A gear 39 is carried by the outer end of shaft 36 and asimilar gear 39 is carried by the outer end of shaft 37 and these gearsconstitute elements of gear trains which are actuated by means of crankhandles 40' arranged outside the chambers 5 and 6. Each of these crankhandles 40 is engaged with a shaft 41 which extends through a coin chute42 and carries at its inner end a gear mesh with a gear 44 of a sizesimilar thereto, said gears 43 and 44 being preferably about two inchesin diameter, although obviously they need not necessarily be restrictedto such size. The gears 44 mesh with gears 45 arranged in a plane belowthem and carried by shafts journaled in the inner wall of the chamber inwhich they are mounted and in the inner wall of the coin chute 42. Onthe same shafts which carry the gears 45 are gears 46- which mesh withthe gears 39 and 39 and through which motion is transmitted to theshafts 36 and 37, respectively, their gears 34 and 35 to the crown gears30 and 30 of the carriers. It will thus be seen that when the crankhandles 40 are turned the gears 34 and 35 will be actuated. The rapiditywith which these crown gears are turned is to be controlled of course bythe size of the intermeshing gears of the trains with which the crankhandles 40 are actuated.

Each of these shafts 41 which carry the crank handles 40 pass throughcoin disks 47 and are fixedly connected therewith. As shown these disksare mutilated and each has a slot 48 in its flat upper edge which opensinto a pocket 49 to receive the coin which releases shaft 41 to permitthe turning thereof as will be presently described, the outer edge ofthe flattened slotted portion of the diskforms a nose 50 which isdesigned to be engaged by a spring catch 51 carried by a coin receivingchute 52 the mouth of which opens through the front and through wall ofthe gear casing in which said chute is mounted and the other through thetop of said casing as is shown clearly in Figs. 1 and 3. These chutes 52are rigidly secured to the gear casing and the spring catches 51 carriedthereby operate to hold the disks 47 in locked inoperative position andprevent all possibility of the turning of said disks until said catchesare released. The release is accomplished by means of a coin beinginserted in the chute in connection with which it is used as is shownclearly in Fig. 5, so that whenthe shaft 41 is turned by means of thecrank handle 40 the spring 51 is lifted by the pressure of the cointhereagainst and is thereby released from its engagement with the nose50 of disk 47,

. thereby and through this gear 43 and those meshing therewith will 0aerate gear 34 and turn the carrier with which it is engaged asuificient distance to disharge one of the bottles carried thereby in amanner presently to be described.

As is shown clearly in Fig. 1, four coin clhutes 52 are provided whichare connected to control the four carriers disposed within thecompartments 13 and 14, respectively, as

above described two of said carriers being 111 compartment 13 and two incompartment 14 as is clearly shown in Figs. 3 and 4. Each disk 47 issecured to its shaft 41 by means of a set screw 54*to provide for theadjustment of the disk for catching the coin inserted in the chute 52 inconnection with which it is used. Each of the coin disks 47 has a lug47' projecting therefrom which is designed to engagea cooperating lugcarried by the front wall of thegea-r casing in which it is mounted toprevent the backward turning of the disk beyond a predetermined point,it being permitted to turn only suflicient to allow a coin to drop intothe slot 48.

When it is desired to operate the mechanism, the crank must be reversedone inch in order to permit tlhe coin to drop into the slot or pocket 48and on the forward turning of the crank this coin will operate to raisethe catch or trigger 51 unlocking it in the manner above described andwhen the crank returns to its initial position, the spring catch 51 willagain snap m-to engagement with the nose 50 of the disk and lock ituntil another eoin is inserted in the chute 52.

Mounted in each of the carriers are a plurality of bottle pockets 40which are shown on the carrier flanges and be held to travel clearly inFigs. 2 and 3. These pockets 40 are here shown cylindrical in form andare provided with a plurality of longitudinally extending slots 56arranged peripherally around the pocket and through which it is designedthat the water shall circulate to exert a cooling action. on the bottleB contained therein. A flange 57 extends laterally from the upper end ofeach pocket and is of a length sufficient to span the distance betweenthe flanges 31 and 32 of the carriers on which it is designed to bemounted, it being obvious from an inspection of Fig. 4 that the ends ofthe pocket flanges will rest therewitihz. These pockets 40 are arrangedaround: the carriers with their side edges abutting as is shown clearlyin Fig. 4, and any desired number thereof may be employed according tothe size of the pockets and the bottles which are to be carried thereby.

Opening through one side wall of the refrigerator casing between theouter shell 2 thereof and the inner ice carrying. cylinder 8 are twoopenings 58 and 59, which are arranged between the gear casings 5 and6and are designed to receive the bottles ejected on the operation of thegear controlled mechanism above described. The carriers are designedtovtravel through these openings 58 and 59 and as a bottle is ejected itwill operate to raise a spring pressed flap 60 so that the bottle may beremoved and on its removal this flap will automatically close andthereby preserve the temperature of the refrigerator witlhzoutpermitting the cold air therein to escape.

Arranged on the outer face of the gear casings 5 and G are la'belcarriers 61, four being here shown and which are designed to containlabels showing the flavor or the contents of the bottles which are to bedispensed when the crank handle arranged above said label is actuated.While this apparatus is shown and described as capable of containing anddispensing four different kinds of bottled goods, it obviously may bealtered to vary its number without in any way departing from the scopeof this invention.

The bottled goods are first placed in the cabinet in the compartment 12through a door at the rear thereof, not shown herein, and after theybecome cooled they are inserted in the bottle pockets or carriers totake the. places of those which have been ejected.

Signaling mechanism in the form of gongs are preferably connected witheach carrier, to give warning when the goods in any of the carriers havebecome depleted within a predetermined number of bottles, say for.instance, six. This signal mechanism as shown comprises a gong 62positioned adjacent each carrier and a hammer 63 carried by each carrierat a predetermined point thereon is designed to engage said gong to givewarning that the goods or bottles carried by the carrier are nearlyexhaust-ed so that an attendant may be notified in ample time toreplenish the supply before it becomes completely depleted.

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings,

. the advantages of the construction and of, the method of operationwill be readily apparent to those skilled in the art to which theinvention appertains and while I have described the principle ofoperation of the invention together with the device which I now considerto be the best embodiment thereof, I desire to have it understood thatthe device shown is merely illustrative and that such changes may bemade as are within the scope of the claimed invention.

I claim 1'. In an apparatus of the class described, a cabinet having anice chamber, a cooling chamber surrounding said ice chamber, a bottlecarrier mounted to travel in said cooling chamber, said cabinet havingan opening in one side wall through which said carrier passes in itstravel, actuating means for said carrier, means for locking saidactuating means against movement, coin-controlled means for releasingsaid locking means, and spring-pressed means for automatically closmgthe opening through which the bottles are ejected after the ejectedbottle is re-' moved.

2. In a refrigerator, a cabinet, a cylindrithe inner walls of'saidcabinet to form acooling compartment, said cylindrical Cl1i1111- herhaving a plurality of longitudinally spaced series of peripherallongitudinally extending slots, a horizontal partition in said coolingcompartment, an annular partition in said ice chamber at the bottomofone of the series of slots, a flange rising from the inner edge ofsaid annular partition to control the height of the water collecting insaid compartment and permit it to overflow to the chamber below, andmeans for supporting articles to be cooled in the Water of said coolingcompartment.

3. In a refrigerator, a cabinet, a cylindrical ice chamber thereinextending from the top to the bottom thereof and spaced from the innerwalls of said cabinet to form a cooling compartment, said cylindricalcham her having a; plurality of; longitudinally spaced series ofperipheral longitudinally extending slots, a horizontal partition insaid cooling compartment, an annular partition in said ice chamber atthe bottom of one of the series of slots, a flange rising from the inneredge of said annular partition to control the height of the Watercollecting in said compartment and permit it to overflow to the chamberbelow, traveling means for supporting articles to be cooled in the waterof said cooling compartment, and means for actuating said travelingmeans.

In testimony whereof I have affixed'my signature in presence of twowitnesses.

J. H. SMrrz, C. O. MANESMITH.

